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Thursday, February 20, 2014

ALA Declaration of the Right to Libraries

On January 27, students, parents, and advocates signed the ALA
Declaration of the Right to Libraries in the Library Company’s Logan Room in
conjunction with the American Library Association winter conference. The
ceremonial signing showed support for the survival of libraries throughout the
country; signings have been held nationwide since July 2013.

The Declaration is premised on the principles that libraries
empower individuals, support literacy and lifelong learning, build communities,
strengthen the nation, and promote informed citizenship in addition to
advancing research and scholarship—ideas that founder Benjamin Franklin would certainly
agree with. The full text of the declaration may be found here: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/declaration-right-libraries-text-only

Speakers at the brief ceremony included event organizer Carol
Heinsdorf, member of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools; Karel
Kilimnik, Co-Founder of APPS; Library Company Director John Van Horne and
Development Director Molly Roth; Bernadette Kearney, member of the Association
of Public School Librarians and Librarian at Philadelphia’s Masterman School;
and Gomian Konneh, from the School District of Philadelphia’s Student Advisory
Board and a Masterman Senior. Konneh read an impassioned statement about the
critical contributions that libraries and certified librarians can make to the
future success of her and her peers. Finally, Barbara Stripling, President of
the American Library Association and creator of the Declaration and the
Libraries Change Lives program, talked about the current situation in
Philadelphia’s public schools.

According to the ALA, more than 135,000 of Philadelphia’s
students no longer have access a certified librarian, or even a library in some
instances because of budget cuts. Only 16 certified school librarians remain,
compared to 176 in 1991, and about 93 percent of schools within the city do not
have librarians. Thus, Stripling says, “students are not learning the
information skills, the inquiry skills, the way to navigate in a world of
technology and information that’s going to enable them to be successful personally
and academically and in their jobs.”